In Times of War
by LadySkywalkerKirkland
Summary: The Jedi Order fights a desperate battle against the agents of the Dark Side, both from without and within the Republic. Sixty years later, the Jedi face another war - but this time they're tearing themselves apart. When one unwanted Initiate is given a second chance, his bond with his new Master is tested when he is thrown back in time to the Clone Wars. Massive AU/Time Travel


**A/N - 19 Oct 2013: **So basically, I wrote this chapter on a whim one night about a month and a half ago. It turns out that with my crazy schedule, trying to add fanfiction to that schedule would be a really bad decision on my part. So I created this account, only to abandon it for the foreseeable future. Part of me feels really bad about this, but another part of me is proud of myself for being able to prioritize well for freaking once.

On the other hand, this fic is now adoptable! You can take this chapter and go wherever you like with it - I'm sure some of you had ideas buzzing because this chapter can pretty much go anywhere. Heed the advice in the comments to get rid of the over-suspense, though; it's _good_ advice.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Star Wars_, et cetera ad infinitum, it belongs financially to Disney, and the credit for the creation of the GFFA goes to good old GL. We love you, George!

**A/N:** Sorry for not much happening in this chapter, but I felt that, you know, since you can't read my mind, you might appreciate knowing what's going on in this crazy AU world my overly-caffeinated, sleep-deprived mind has managed to cook up. The next chapter will involve Almighty Character Development and the early stages of Master-Padawan Bonding, so yays! And yes, you will eventually find out where Obi-Wan has run off to (River says SPOILERS!) I will respond to any comments I get in the next chapter, but this is my first fanfic, so please be forgiving :). Weekly updates, if we're lucky.

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Fylix Greybourne growled in frustration and resisted the urge to throw his datapad across the small dormitory room where he lived with the other male members of the Bergruufta Clan. Or would have lived, had there _been_ any other members. But the other nine Jedi Initiates, Fylix's best friends in the Temple and the galaxy, had already been assigned to their Masters, leaving him all alone. Well, he still saw some of them in classes, but it was not the same, especially since he alone had no Master. Today, precisely one week from his thirteenth birthday, Fylix still had not received that all-important summons from the Assignment Council that would mean he had been accepted for the role of Padawan.

Fylix consciously slowed his breaths and closed his eyes, managing to release much of his frustration into the Force. He wanted so badly to be angry at the Council, to hate their decision, but they would know. He was only an unchosen Initiate, after all, and they would be able to see right through him to his true feelings. Then, he would never be chosen. A niggling thought in the back of his mind told Fylix that that was not the correct motivation – that a Jedi should desire to get rid of anger and hatred in order to be more in tune with the Light Side of the Force and its will. But for now, this was the best he could do.

And it did not help. No, it did not help at all. Releasing his superficial, momentary anger into the Force only brought the deeper problem into the forefront of Fylix's mind – a deep, abiding despair and constant fear of being cast out of the Order to which he had sworn his life and would gladly swear fealty again, if he was allowed to. This fear was accompanied by another, almost as strong.

His birth family had not wanted a Force-sensitive child. He suspected they still did not. But that was where he would be sent in one week if he was not placed.

He had read in heroic old legends and heard in history class that things had not always been this way. A mere half century ago it had still been common practice for the choosing of apprentices to be left up to the will of individual Knights and Masters. It was extremely unusual for any of the four Councils to get involved in the process. The Initiate Trials were merely a way for young Jedi hopefuls to show off their skills to crowds of prospective mentors, not an entrance exam to apprenticeship. The Assignment Council had been called the Reassignment Council, and had dealt primarily with transferring failed Initiates to the Service Corps. In that day, the older Jedi claimed, the Service Corps was open to all, and had its own quiet sort of nobility born of its humble nature. Today, infants were immediately set onto either the path toward Knighthood or the Corps based on midichlorian count, and there was no switching. If you failed, you were expelled.

But most importantly of all, in those days there had been no factions, no divisions in the Order. Today, the Jedi practically had political parties.

It had all started a couple of decades after the Clone Wars ended and the Sith were finally dealt with for good, and had reached its peak of ugliness during Yoda's last decade as Grand Master before his passing. That was when the Knights of Light had started calling themselves by that name. It was they who had brought about the changes, especially after Master Torsen Krey had been appointed to the post of Master of the Order. With a Grand Master who was old and tired and accelerating towards senility and death with each day, yet unwilling to step down from his post, Krey had found it easy to overcome the opposition and maneuver his own supporters into High Council seats.

The opposition called themselves the Protectors, and strove in every way to return the Order to the old ways of doing things. Both had huge followings among the Jedi masses, and both had quite convincing viewpoints. The Knights of Light claimed that it was the vague reliance on "discovering the will of the Force" that had allowed rules to be bent and broken and dangerous attachments – especially between Master and Padawan – to be formed. They said that the true will of the Force lay in setting out clear rules for the running of the Order, even in its tiniest details, and purging its members of all emotions that could potentially lead to Dark Side tendencies. The Protectors harkened back to the glory days of the heroes of the Clone Wars and even earlier, that had, even with their so-called "inferior ways," come face-to-face with the agents of the Dark Side and prevailed. The Protectors also noted how the reputation of the Jedi had degenerated, that many people now saw them as cold and uncaring puppets of the Senate.

Some Jedi had tried to keep themselves separate from the conflict, to little success. Yoda had done next to nothing to stop the divisions, except that he looked sadder and sadder with each passing day. He was, however, one of the last holdouts on the High Council against the new way of assigning Padawans that Krey wanted to implement.

In recent months, Fylix had found himself siding more and more with the cause of the Protectors. He had passed the Initiate Trials with flying colors and was considered one of the best duelists in his year, and yet still he had been overlooked or passed over. He was sure, so sure, that there were many potential Masters out there who would have jumped at the chance to have him as a Padawan if they had been allowed to. He was sure. He had to be sure. It was the last hope he still clung to.

Fylix turned his datapad over and over in his hands mindlessly as he tried to remember how he had been told the legend of what happened next. It was a thing that had sent shocked ripples through the entire Order and stopped Krey's group in its tracks.

The dying Yoda had done the unthinkable: he had made a deal with Krey. In exchange for an affirmative vote by Yoda on the issue of Masters and Padawans, Yoda would be allowed to choose his own successor to the position of Grand Master. The deal had gone through without a hitch. Krey wanted the reform that badly, and while reformations could always be unmade, Krey was confident in the numbers of his supporters in the various Councils.

Fylix supposed that this kind of deal would not have been made in the time before the Clone Wars. But that was not what shocked the Order most. What shocked the Jedi most was Yoda's choice of successor.

He had chosen the one Jedi who was too beloved to be turned down by Krey, because the rank and file would revolt; the one Jedi whose legendary history as a champion of the Light left no room for argument; the one Jedi who would take none of Krey's interference in the old ways, but neither side with the Protectors, even though they held him up as their ideal; the one Jedi whom it was too dangerous for anyone to try to "deal with quietly."

With one last clever mind-trick, and one that required no use of the Force, Yoda had put Krey into a stalemate.

But thirty years after that fateful agreement – and nearly sixty years after the Clone Wars – the factions had begun to squabble as the new Grand Master himself, however strong he was, approached his eightieth birthday.

Fylix sighed in defeat and looked at the datapad screen without really seeing it. None of that mattered, he supposed. If he never became a Knight, there was never a chance that the arguments between the factions would ever affect his own insignificant life. He blinked at the datapad, bringing it back into focus.

He blinked again.

He had a message. A message from the Grand Master, inviting him to visit.

Fylix was having trouble processing this.

The Jedi who was singlehandedly keeping the Order from tearing itself apart wanted to see _him_? The one Jedi whom Yoda had trusted to take his place wanted to see an unwanted Initiate?

Fylix took a deep, gasping breath and reread the message. It was polite, but simple and direct, and did not reveal the Grand Master's intentions for meeting with him. It also said that Fylix could come "at your leisure tonight, or reply to set up a meeting within the next few days." Fylix glanced at the dormitory's wall chrono. It still only just past dinnertime, and he would rather not have to sit and study for classes that he would not be taking in a week anyways.

Fylix pulled his boots back on and checked his hair in the refresher's small mirror, then opened a pre-loaded Temple map on his datapad and found the Grand Master's apartments, quickly committing the route to memory as all young Jedi were taught to do. He took a deep breath and reached for the comfort of the Force to still his quaking nerves. Curiously, it was brighter, happier than he had felt it in days. It sounded almost crazy, but Fylix could believe right now that the Force seemed happy for him, as though it was keeping a great secret and preparing to unveil a wonderful surprise.

Reassured, Fylix left the dormitory, stepped out into the vast hallway, and proceeded to head to the other side of the Temple. He left himself in the lightest of meditations as he walked, trying to keep getting that comfort from the Force. He was very nervous.

After all, it was not every day that unwanted Initiates were invited to private visits with Anakin Skywalker.


End file.
